Saturday, February 26, 2011

Reality to White House: Freshmen Republicans Want Government Shutdown

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the Republicans would never shutdown government.

“The reason you haven’t seen the private sector getting worked up about it — I don’t think the evidence is the markets believe there’s going to be a shutdown,” Goolsbee said Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. “You saw the leaders of both parties in both houses say — all four of them — they’re going to do what it takes, that they don’t think there’s going to be a shutdown.”

"There’s a very good possibility that government will shut down. I know the Democrats have their talking points lined up. They’ll blame us for everything. What will we do?"

Rep. Rich Nugent

"All I can tell you is this: If you’re looking for us to blink, it’s not going to happen."

The three shutdowns in 1995 hurt Newt Gingrich politically. Gingrich lost control of his caucus and couldn't get the votes to fund the government. George Stephanopoulos recounts in his book "All Too Human" that former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole told the White House he gave up trying to get the House to pass a budget. Dole left Washington to campaign. It will be interesting to see if Boehner can control his caucus.

Former White House Treasury Sec. Robert Rubin told President Bill Clinton, during the shutdowns, that the United States could financially default. If these Republicans were really worried about fiscal issues they wouldn't be talking about a shutdown.